Swim, run (x4), gym (plus shrinkflation, fashion and heatwaves)

One thing from all the running – I’m the Strava ‘local legend’ on seven segments scattered about the area

A friend has two dogs that my wife often walks with her. Our friend’s hurt her back so I was my wife’s assistant dog-walker on a crisp Monday morning giving the dogs a long walk around the fields.

After a day of mowing and car-cleaning, it was the swim doctor session in the early evening and another good mixture of drills and swimming.

Tuesday was odd – it’s rare that I don’t want to go for a run but that was one of those days. I suppose one of the differences between training and exercising is that runs are a bit less optional, so I got into the kit and ran. It was back to being chilly but, of course, as soon as I got outside I enjoyed it – 13km (8 miles) at a bit better than 6 minutes/km.

Back to the usual hill on Wednesday. Sadly, it’s continued to get colder and I’m back to running tights, three layers on top and gloves. This week, 8 reps measured 8.8km with 287m of ascent (5.5 miles 941 feet) – at least it felt better than last week’s horrible struggle.

I ran again on an even colder Thursday – 11.2km (7 miles) – complete with a few flakes of snow in the air and a bitter northerly – the wind chill made it feel a few degrees below freezing (a hat now added to the cold weather gear).

Three consecutive days of running is probably a bit much but having missed Monday it felt like it was worth doing to make the weekend easier. That just leaves the gym on Friday and one long run still to come …. and it took me beyond 500km of running in the first three months of the year, with over 7km of ascent.

Gym – still focusing on arms, chest, shoulders and core – and bike shop on Friday morning.

I’m happy (but probably foolish) to run up to about 26km (16 miles) without prior nutrition and without taking anything on the run, but to try something different I had porridge before setting off for my week’s long run on Saturday. After all, the fact that I can do it without doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t be better with.

I started with bright and cold but soon got rain, snow flurries, more sun and a return of the rain. In all, a bit over 27km (nearly 17 miles) – I took no food or drink with me on the run, but felt no noticeable benefit from the porridge. I weighed in at a scrawny, and probably dehydrated, 65.5kg (144 pounds – 10 stone 4) at the end of the run.

That’s 60km (over 37 miles) in 4 runs over 5 days – it was tough and I’m now very weary. Our older son came back later on Saturday to return a car he’d borrowed – with the short notice, that meant our second take-away of the year for supper.

As always, it’s great to see him although it was a fleeting visit and I dropped him off at the station on Sunday. I felt in pretty good shape but, apart from that outing, I dedicated myself to a rest day.

I seem to have fallen into a training rut routine of 6 sessions a week (4 runs, a swim and a gym visit) but I should be cycling and swimming more. I also need to have a day off (preferably two) so I need to double up some days.

To fit in 7 sessions in a week, I’m sure one session a day with no rest is a bad idea – but I wonder if it’s better to do them over 6 days with one rest day, or cram them into 5 days, with 2 days off?

100k corner (an occasional place for ultra news, worries and plans)

Week (of 20)	Event’s training plan (km)	My actual (km)
6	35	60
Cumulative total	161	304

My training so far

My friend and training partner has recovered from Covid (I think it was nature’s way of telling him to give his ankle ligament more time off) and is – cautiously – restarting running. He’s been able to keep the swimming, gym and turbo trainer going so, as long as the injury is healing properly, he’ll be fine for the triathlon in late May but a question mark hangs over July’s ultra.

Last year I injured myself and had 9 weeks to train for the 50km ultra. In that time, I ran less than 150 miles (240km) and still enjoyed the event itself, never feeling that I wasn’t going to finish. It will be tough but I hope this year’s 100km is possible for him (in the absence of more illness or injury). There’s a potential fall-back of him doing half the run, which will still be an ultra … and that’s not to be sniffed at. Fingers crossed.

Interesting stuff this week

1. African wise words: When an old man dies, a library is burned with him

In my case, they will probably just warm up a postcard

2. BBC News website: Shrinkflation

Cadbury has shrunk the size of some of its Dairy Milk bars by 10%, but will not reduce the price for customers. US Parent company Mondelez blamed costs associated with the production of its chocolate spiking, as it reduced the bars’ size from 200g to 180g.

In 2020, the company was accused of “shrinkflation” – reducing the size of a product while keeping the price the same to boost profits. At the time, Cadbury chocolate bars sold in multipacks were reduced in size to reduce their calorie count, said the company.

Ah, it was just for our own good in calorie reduction and there I was mistakenly thinking it was about profits

3. BBC News website: Europe to crack down on fast fashion

It is proposed to make the clothing made and worn here more durable, reusable, repairable and recyclable. Manufacturers will have to ensure clothes are eco-friendly and hard-wearing and consumers will be given more information on how to reuse, repair and recycle their clothes.

According to the European Environment Agency in Europe clothes have, on average, the fourth highest impact on the environment and climate, exceeded only by food, housing and transport.

One advantage of not worrying about being ‘in fashion’ is that I have little risk of ever going out of fashion

4. BBC News website: It’s getting hot in here

The Met Office defines a heatwave as when an area experiences daily maximum temperatures meeting or exceeding a certain level for three days in a row. As they become more common, forecasters have raised the temperature at which a heatwave is declared in several areas of England by 1C.

Surrey, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire now have a level of 28C (82F), Lincolnshire has a limit of 27C (81F) and the East Riding of Yorkshire has 26C (79F).

It is untrue that, in the rest of the country, a heatwave is declared if it ever stops raining

5. Football World Cup draw

The draw for the Football World Cup (to be held in November and December) took place on Friday. England’s initial group is the USA, Iran and (one of) Scotland, Ukraine and Wales.

I predict optimism, hope, expectation and eventual disappointment and despair. To be honest, that’s not much of a prediction, just a description of our usual World Cup journey